Commodity, Plantation Stocks Lift Bursa Malaysia To End Higher
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended higher on Tuesday, outperforming most regional markets as investors continued to rotate towards commodity and plantation-related stocks, an analyst said.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.47 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 1,733.36 compared with Monday’s close of 1,725.89.
The benchmark index opened 1.63 points higher at 1,727.52, and fluctuated between 1,723.60 and 1,734.53 throughout the day.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 762 to 438, while 576 counters were unchanged, 1,075 untraded and 16 suspended.
Turnover expanded to 3.74 billion units valued at RM2.91 billion from 3.45 billion units valued at RM2.74 billion on Monday.
IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said commodity and plantation stocks led the gains among FBM KLCI constituents, supported by higher commodity prices and their defensive earnings amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.
He said the resilience of the local market came despite a weaker regional backdrop, with Asian equities broadly under pressure amid the escalating West Asia crisis, while crude oil prices extended their gains for a third consecutive session.
Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged up 0.07 per cent to 25,471.15, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slumped 2.54 per cent to 67,460.73, South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index shrank 1.55 per cent to 6,869.83, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 1.28 per cent to 5,694.85.
“Against this backdrop, the FBM KLCI’s resilience highlights the benefits of Malaysia’s relatively defensive market composition.
“The market has greater exposure to commodity, plantation, banking and domestic-oriented sectors, and lower exposure to high-growth technology stocks compared with several regional benchmarks,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM10.62, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare inched up one sen each to RM5.11 and RM8.15, respectively, CIMB Group gained eight sen to RM7.95, while Tenaga Nasional lost six sen to RM14.42.
On the most active list, Zetrix AI shed 5.5 sen to 63.5 sen, JAKS Resources ticked down half a sen to 13 sen, Key ASIC edged up one sen to 8.5 sen, while Dataprep and Tanco were flat at nine sen and 24.5 sen, respectively.
Among top gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries garnered RM1.02 to RM48.02, Nestle advanced 70 sen to RM103.70, Mi Technovation jumped 56 sen to RM6.45, Kelington climbed 46 sen to RM9.00, and Petronas Gas gained 22 sen to RM17.44.
As for the top losers, United Plantations dipped 40 sen to RM32.60, Ayer Holdings erased 25 sen to RM7.25, DKLS Industries tumbled 20 sen to RM1.45, KESM Industries dropped 15 sen to RM4.35, and Hong Leong Bank slid 14 sen to RM22.60.
Among the broader indices, the FBM Top 100 Index climbed 27.36 points to 12,644.54 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index put on 20.24 points to 12,666.74.
The FBM Emas Index improved 20.54 points to 12,829.70, the FBM 70 Index dipped 76.18 points to 18,211.66, and the FBM ACE Index sank 22.67 points to 5,301.18.
By sector, the Plantation Index soared 63.06 points to 9,376.68, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 1.46 points to 189.43, the Energy Index edged up 0.79 of a point to 778.41, and the Financial Services Index increased 58.28 points to 20,308.00.
The Main Market volume advanced to 2.01 billion units valued at RM2.53 billion compared with 1.75 billion units valued at RM2.36 billion on Monday.
Warrants turnover expanded to 1.10 billion units worth RM1.51 billion versus 957.50 million units worth RM1.31 billion previously.
The ACE Market volume slipped to 631.13 million units valued at RM222.14 million from 733.67 million units valued at RM254.52 million on Monday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 213.78 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (314.37 million), construction (238.20 million), technology (654.63 million), financial services (67.23 million), property (175.58 million), plantation (34.19 million), real estate investment trusts (28.23 million), closed-end fund (767,500), energy (77.91 million), healthcare (49.27 million), telecommunications and media (33.02 million), transportation and logistics (64.70 million), utilities (60.99 million), and business trusts (317,300).
-- BERNAMA